Intimate Transactions: The Evolution of an Ecosophical Networked Practice

ABSTRACT: Intimate Transactions is a networked interactive installation for two participants located in different geographical locations. During a 30-minute, one-on-one session they individually and collaboratively explore a range of virtual, interactive environments mediated by digital image, sound and haptic feedback. This major work evolved from a single site, non-networked version to a multi-site, server-driven artwork that operates in mixed online/offline modes. In 2005, the work was awarded an Honorary Mention in the Prix Ars Electronica and began an international tour of several high profile festivals and arts’ venues. Intimate Transactions is a product of the Transmute Collective. Its networked, inter-relational design was inspired by a range of conditions, discourses and practices drawn from scientific and critical ecologies, new media and innovative performance that I collectively name ‘ecosophical praxis’. An inherent part of this approach involves the continual development of contextualizing questions, which in turn mould the work’s practice and presentation. This paper considers the issues and implications of applying this approach during the Intimate Transactions project. The concluding questions are relevant as a guiding method for other creative practitioners similarly interested in eco-social and eco-political engagement.